Chapter 930 Empress Dowager’s Intention
Chu Qing knelt in front of Empress Dowager in the Palace of Benevolent Peace. She looked at him with a gloomy face and undisguised disappointment in her eyes.
Chu Qing was her eldest son’s biological son, so she was willing to support him anytime. But she thought that he’d better remain in his proper sphere at this time, as the battle for the throne was going on and it was the time that turbulence might happen.
Unlike Chu Liuchen, Chu Qing was neither raised by the Emperor since he was a child nor awarded the status of a prince. He hadn’t been weak and sick since he was young or experienced deaths several times. However, the Emperor saw Chu Liuchen suffer all of these. He even waited outside of Chu Liuchen’s room when the latter was on therapy.
Moreover, Chu Liuchen’s identity…
In the Emperor’s heart, Chu Qing was totally different from Chu Liuchen with such experiences, though they were both the biological sons of the Former Emperor.
Empress Dowager was well aware that even if Chu Liuchen wanted to become the future emperor, the Emperor would not do anything against him. Instead, the Emperor would consider adding one more candidate as long as Chu Liuchen was in good health and he himself had such an ambition.
But Chu Qing would not have the same treatment. Empress Dowager knew very well that if he dared to have any intention, the Emperor must stop his plan and punish him. What was more, Empress Dowager always had doubts about the person kneeling in front of her. “Is Chu Qing really the son of the Former Emperor?”
“It seems to be against what I have known before, doesn’t it?”
Chu Qing grew up in the Yuhui Nunnery for so many years, so no one had ever suspected his identity. “But is it the truth that his mother had been pregnant before she went to the Yuhui Nunnery?”
No sooner had Consort Yu entered the Palace than she was favored by the Former Emperor. However, the Former Emperor was dying at that time. After the Former Emperor passed away, Empress Dowager, according to the rules, sent the imperial concubines without children to the Yuhui Nunnery to cultivate in seclusion.
Empress Dowager remembered that she was in charge of the ritual. Those imperial concubines cried and kowtowed to her for mercy before they were sent there. As the most favored imperial concubine, Consort Yu was the first to do so. “Since she had been pregnant at that time, why didn’t she tell me? Was she afraid that someone would hurt her child?”
“Of course, it could be that she didn’t know she was pregnant!”
Empress Dowager didn’t believe Consort Yu, but she had an ulterior motive in letting go of Consort Yu, the incumbent Consort Dowager Qing. Since Chu Qing was appointed as Commandery Prince Qing, Empress Dowager had never met Consort Dowager Qing.
Empress Dowager had buried the suspicion in her heart. “At least that can keep a son for the Former Emperor.”
Yet, Chu Qing had crossed the line!
“You want to take her to be your consort, the legitimate daughter of the third branch in Marquis Xing’s Mansion?” Empress Dowager asked again. She wanted to confirm her thoughts.
“Empress Dowager, it is not my idea! Old Madam of Marquis Xing’s Mansion wants me to do so. I wanted to choose Second Miss. Anyway, she was the victim at that time, so I couldn’t betray her. But… Second Miss seems to look down on me. Therefore, Marquis Xing’s Mansion wants to marry Third Miss to my mansion!” Chu Qing lowered his head and reported.
It was such a cunning explanation! He pushed all the blame on Marquis Xing’s Mansion to convince Empress Dowager that he was totally helpless. Before coming to meet Empress Dowager, he thought that it would be more beneficial for him to marry a legitimate daughter, no matter whether she was beautiful or not. That would be of great help to him in the future. After all, it was useless to marry a daughter of a concubine.
Moreover, he was never fond of Shao Jie’er. He didn’t like her before, and now he hated her even more.
As long as thinking about her, Chu Qing felt very aggrieved. In the beginning, it was Shao Yanru, the eldest legitimate daughter, who looked down on him. So she passed the chance on to Shao Jie’er, a useless concubine’s daughter. What was the use of a concubine’s daughter? Shao Jie’er was not valued in Marquis Xing’s Mansion at all! How could Chu Qing bear to marry such a woman?
Since then, Chu Qing had never intended to go to Marquis Xing’s Mansion and propose to Shao Jie’er. He just delayed it. Anyway, Marquis Xing’s Mansion had accepted the engagement between their second daughter Shao Jie’er and him, so Chu Qing was not afraid that they would correct themselves.
A few days ago, he paid a visit to Marquis Xing’s Mansion for Chu Liuchen’s sake. It would be better if people thought that he and Chu Liuchen had a good relationship. It would be such a good thing if the two biological brothers were both married to the Misses of Marquis Xing’s Mansion!
However, Chu Qing had never thought that he would be despised by a concubine’s daughter one day!
On thinking of this, he disliked Shao Jie’er even more. “The legitimate daughter of the third branch is much better than that ignorant concubine’s daughter!”
“How dare she! How dare a daughter of non-lineal descent look down on a member of the royal family!” Hearing Chu Qing’s tactful explanation, Empress Dowager put down the teacup heavily with a darkening face.
She looked down on Chu Qing, but it didn’t mean that other people could do the same. He was always the Former Emperor’s son no matter how bad he was!
“That’s exactly what Marquis Xing’s Mansion means, Empress Dowager! They also say that Third Miss is pitiful…” Chu Qing showed a trace of grievance at the right time.
Shao Caihuan was pitiful? Indeed, she was! She entered the Imperial Palace for the Pageant the other day, but unfortunately, she became a scapegoat of Shao Wanru and was framed by others. From this point of view, Shao Caihuan was indeed very pitiful suffering an unexpected disaster.
From this point of view, it seemed that Marquis Xing’s Mansion didn’t go too far.
“Empress Dowager, Princess Chen arrived!” a palace maid came in and reported in a low voice.
“Lead her in!” Empress Dowager nodded, and then the palace maid left. After a while, Shao Wanru followed the palace maid in.
Empress Dowager granted her a seat after Shao Wanru bowed.
“Princess Chen, do you know what has happened in Marquis Xing’s Mansion today?” Empress Dowager did not beat around the bush and asked directly.
“Yes, I do. Old Madam invited me to their mansion, and I happened to arrive when they were talking about the matter!” Shao Wanru answered in a soft voice with a gentle attitude. She was not panicked by Empress Dowager’s reprimand.
Her calm look softened Empress Dowager’s face. “What do you think?”
It seemed that Empress Dowager wanted Shao Wanru to give some advice. But Shao Wanru didn’t want to say anything about it now, neither did she want to do that when she was in Marquis Xing’s Mansion at that time.
She glanced at Commandery Prince Qing opposite her with her watery eyes and said, “Commandery Prince Qing should make the decision himself!”
The “buck” was passed to Chu Qing again. It wasn’t as simple as it looked. Shao Jing and Shao Jie’er would not agree to give up such a marriage unless doing so could benefit them. So there must be a reason why they quit.
However, Empress Dowager insisted that Shao Wanru should express her opinion. She asked Shao Wanru again, “Who do you think is more suitable to be Commandery Prince Qing’s wife, your second sister or third sister?”
Shao Wanru was not allowed to stay out of the matter.
With her long eyelashes fluttering, a trace of deepness flashed in her eyes. It didn’t reduce her beauty. Instead, it modified her beautiful face with elegance, making her facial features both charming and elegant.
Compared with a lineal daughter of an aristocratic family who was specially cultivated into an elegant lady, Shao Wanru was even more outstanding.
Empress Dowager suddenly fell in a better mood. No matter what, she got a good wife for Chen’er, a wife with whom he himself was also satisfied. Now, Empress Dowager wanted to test Shao Wanru.
Empress Dowager didn’t care who married into Commandery Prince Qing’s Mansion. Neither of them would have an impact on her. But she cared about Shao Wanru’s attitude a lot!
Due to Empress Dowager’s insistence, Shao Wanru thought for a few seconds and came out with an idea in her mind. “Since Empress Dowager wants my opinion, I have to say something!” Then she said, “As a concubine’s daughter, Second Sister has always listened to Eldest Sister in everything since she was young. But she is not very close to other sisters. She is Second Uncle’s daughter, so people in her mansion value her, though she is not a daughter of lineal descent.”
“Third Sister is Third Uncle’s eldest daughter. She gets along well with other sisters except for Second Sister. Maybe it’s because they are different from each other in their status. Third Sister has been very depressed since the incident happened to her in the Palace. Now she is copying Buddhist scriptures in the Buddha Hall with Second Sister, as she had caused some trouble on Eldest Brother’s wedding!”
Everyone knew why she copied Buddhist scriptures.
When Chu Qing heard that the two girls were copying Buddhist scriptures, his face darkened. At first, he thought Third Miss was a good girl, though she was not good-looking. Now it seemed that she was not as good as he thought. In this case, it might be better to marry that concubine’s daughter.
Empress Dowager was very satisfied with Shao Wanru’s implicit words, which showed that Shao Wanru was partial to Chu Liuchen instead of Marquis Xing’s Mansion.
“Since she has been married to Chen’er, of course, she has to be partial to him. Chen’er is much more important than her parent’s family,” Empress Dowager thought. She treated Chu Liuchen as a treasure, so how could she allow Shao Wanru not to put Chu Liuchen in the first place?
“It seems that Shao Wanru is sincere to her husband, and she doesn’t like Marquis Xing’s Mansion. That’s great!” Her grandson was fond of Shao Wanru, so Empress Dowager wanted Shao Wanru to do everything for her grandson wholeheartedly so that she wouldn’t feel sorry for her grandson.
“Commandery Prince Qing, do you understand what Princess Chen said?” Empress Dowager stopped questioning Shao Wanru and turned to ask Chu Qing.
From Shao Wanru’s words, Empress Dowager could tell that Shao Jie’er was not a good girl. After all, how could a concubine’s daughter be valued by the whole mansion? Moreover, she was not close to her other sisters, which meant she would never be willing to sacrifice herself for them. So, she must give up the marriage because she had had a better choice.
Empress Dowager became increasingly dissatisfied with Marquis Xing’s Mansion. “What do they think the descendants of the royal family are? The radishes and cabbages that they can pick in the market at will? They are just two silly girls!” Empress Dowager had also investigated the incident related to the three happening in the Palace and found that Third Miss Shao was not completely innocent!
Chu Qing looked up at Shao Wanru and then at Empress Dowager. He entered the Palace not only for deciding to marry which Miss, but also mainly to see the Empress Dowager’s attitude…